The Misericordia softball team earned a second-straight split, Saturday afternoon at Anderson Field, this time with the DeSales Bulldogs. DeSales took game one, 10-2, while the Cougars ended the day with a 10-3 victory.
The Cougars now sit at 13-11 overall and 5-3 in the MAC Freedom while the Bulldogs go to 11-11 and 7-3 in conference play.
In the game two win for the Cougars, Jessie McDonough went 3-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Ciara DeLong and Maddie Stebich also each added two runs batted in. Kiersten Pflueger added three hits and three runs scored for the Cougars.
Victoria Schmidt allowed just three runs while striking out three in a complete game victory to improve to 4-0 on the season.
The Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 lead after one inning, sending 10 batters to the plate. Amanda Butera and Maddie Holub led off the inning with two straight walks. Pflueger singled to knock in Butera for the game's first run. After another walk to Brianna Holder, McDonough hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Holub. A run-scoring fielder's choice from Lori Brennan followed by an RBI single from Stebich and an RBI double from DeLong wrapped up the scoring in the inning for the Cougars.
Schmidt worked her way in and out of trouble in the third as the first two runners reached base, setting up a second and third, no-out situation. After a lineout out to Butera at short, Carly Benjamin lined out to Holub in center field and doubled off the runner at first to escape the inning unscathed.
Misericordia extended their lead in the third on another RBI single by Stebich, scoring Brennan, who had doubled earlier in the inning.
Desales scored three times in the fourth, two runs coming in on a double by Leann Panconi, to bring the game a little closer at 7-3.
The Cougars got a run back in the bottom of the fourth when DeLong came up with the bases loaded and two outs. She hit a routine grounder to short, but Hallie Muffley booted it, allowing the eighth run to cross the plate for MU.
Misericordia pushed two more runs across in the fifth on two RBI base-knocks by Holder and McDonough. Holder hit a double in the right-center field gap, scoring Pflueger, and eventually came around to score on a single by McDonough.
Schmidt finished off the Bulldogs in the sixth and seventh, allowing just two singles, to earn the complete game win.
Earlier in the day in game one, DeSales jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Misericordia had a chance to bat and never looked back, cruising to a 10-2 victory in five innings.
Pflueger went 2-2 as she finished her day perfect at the plate and Jessica Pluta hit a two-run home run to provide the only scoring for MU.
The Cougars are back in action, tomorrow at 1:00, when they host Lebanon Valley in a doubleheader at Anderson Field.
